Japan makes history by landing two space rovers on an asteroid

"Each of the rovers is operating normally and has started surveying Ryugu's surface", JAXA said in a statement.

"The two rovers are in good condition and are transmitting images and data", the agency, JAXA, said on Saturday after the rovers separated from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft and landed on the asteroid Ryugu.

The mission to the near-Earth asteroid began more than three years ago in an attempt to land rovers on Ryugu's surface. Japanese unmanned spacecraft Hayabusa2 released two small Minerva-II-1 rovers on the asteroid Ryugu on September 21.

The Minerva-II rovers were developed by JAXA and the University of Aizu, and two of the rovers have been deployed to the surface of the asteroid.

The team behind the expedition faced a nervous two-day wait for the Minerva-II rovers to send back information, but on Sunday, they confirmed the rovers landed.

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Images sent back by the rovers show the asteroid's gravelly, rocky surface, and some are blurry because the robot that took them was "hopping" at the time.

Japan's space agency workers can now breathe easy.

"I am proud that Hayabusa2 was able to contribute to the creation of this technology for a new method of space exploration by surface movement on small bodies".

Once the spacecraft reaches the surface, it will fire a bullet at great speed into Ryugu, with the resulting blasted particles being collected by a catcher.

Situated in an orbit between the Earth and Mars, the asteroid Ryugu is believed to be rich in water and organic materials, making it a flawless object for learning more about the possible extraterrestrial societies in the galaxy and maybe, other solar systems. A sensor-packed cube will also be delivered to the surface and eventually the spacecraft itself will land on the asteroid to snag a sample of material which it will then return back to Earth. It's an incredibly cool image, but it's just the first of what JAXA hopes will be lots of snapshots of asteroid, called Ryugu.

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